Yesterday Gina released Better Gmail, a Firefox extension that integrates the best Gmail user scripts under one easy-to-manage Firefox extension. Whether you're using the extension or the Greasemonkey scripts, these add-ons turn Gmail into an entirely new and wildly powerful email tool.

The problem is, you've got to know what you're doing to take advantage of what Better Gmail has to offer. That's why today, I'll show you how to use Better Gmail along with a few other Gmail add-ons to turn Gmail into the best email application you've ever used.

The Essentials

The Greasemonkey community has built several must-have scripts for enhancing Gmail, but that used to mean you had to go hunt down each script every time you wanted to power up your Gmail on a new computer. Additionally, for some reason or another, a lot of people out there aren't terribly keen on Greasemonkey. That's why we're all very lucky that just yesterday, Gina released the Better Gmail Firefox extension, which basically wraps together some of the best Gmail Greasemonkey scripts into one master extension. That includes:

Macros: This is the must-have missing feature from Gmail, and it's what I'll spend the most time explaining and demonstrating in this feature. It lets you perform all kinds of fancy Gmail footwork without ever taking your hands off the keyboard.

Attachment Icons: Adds small icons to emails with attachments to indicate what kind of file is attached.

Filter Assistant: Helps you quickly create new filters based on the message you're currently viewing.

Saved Searches: Lets you create custom, often-used searches that work sort of like smart folders.

Conversation Preview: Lets you preview a message with a right-click of your mouse.

and more...

Starting to see how useful this extension is? Now let's take a look at how you might put it to use. Check out the video above (if you haven't already) for a look at how Gmail Macros, along with several of the other tools included in Better Gmail, can help you get things done in Gmail.

Best, must-know shortcuts

The ability to perform every email task you need, from navigation your conversations with j/k, navigating inside threads with n/p, or selecting the current email with x (all of which are baked into Gmail from the get-go, as long as you enable keyboard shortcuts) to the excellent on-the-fly labeling and label navigation you get from Gmail Macros.

The other keyboard shortcuts from Gmail Macros I use and love most are:

g + label name: This works for any label, saved search, or default sidebar navigation (like inbox, sent mail, etc.). Just type 'g' and the label selector will pop up. Then begin typing the name of the label you want and as soon as you narrow it down, Gmail Macros will take you there.

Shift-L + label: Lets you remove a specific label from currently selected email(s). You can also remove labels on a per-email basis if you're viewing it within the label you want to remove by archiving it with y.

Shift-N + label: Allows you to create a new label and apply the label to a message on-the-fly, a simple tweak that takes the extra steps out of applying a new label to a message, meaning you won't blow off creating the label because you can't be bothered to take the time. This is currently not available with Better Gmail (but it may be in the next release), but it is available with this version of the Gmail Macros script (via Gmail Power Users Group).

The label selector command window might seem a little confusing, since it looks the same no matter which command brings it up (i.e., g, l, Shift-l, Shift-N), but don't let that bother you. Once you get used to it, it's indispensable.

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Then there are the compose, reply, and forward shortcuts. To Compose a message, hit c, to Reply to the message you're currently viewing, hit r, and to Forward the message you're viewing, hit f. Any of these commands can also be used to compose your email in another window by adding the Shift key to the shortcut (e.g., Shift-c will open a pop-up compose window).

To open an email, you can either hit Enter or o for Open. If you're viewing a long conversation thread with a lot of collapsed emails, you can expand them all in one fell swoop by hitting Shift-o.

As you're learning how to use the Macros, always keep in mind that you can pull up the keyboard command list at any time by hitting h, as in Help. However, if you're more into paper cheatsheets, click the thumbnail to the right for a passably printable image of the keyboard command list. [1]

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My final favorite that I'm going to highlight is the Conversation preview shortcut. If you've enabled Conversation Preview, you could preview a message by right-clicking it, or you can do that from the keyboard, too, by hitting v for View. Awesome. (God, I have an unnatural love for my keyboard.)

Gmail as a web-accessible hard drive

As Gmail's storage quickly approaches 3GB, a lot of people have got a lot of room they're not using. That's why it's been a prime target for really cool third party apps that let you mount and browse your Gmail account like it's a hard drive. Windows users should try the Gmail Drive shell, while Mac users should take a look at gDisk. If you want to keep things in Firefox, try out the Gmail File Space extension.

Encryption

If you've logged into Gmail at http://mail.google.com rather than https://mail.google.com, the messages you're sending could potentially be read by any dirty sniffer on your network. Logging into the https version, however, will encrypt your information as it's sent so no one can stick their nose into your messages. The 's' is for secure, people! To set every Gmail connection to redirect to the more secure https connection, try out CustomizeGoogle or the HTTP-to-HTTPS redirector Greasemonkey script. You can also use CustomizeGoogle to remove the Spam count from your Gmail sidebar, along with lots of other Google tweaks.

Knock out repetitive email

This is more of a tip for any email application than Gmail specifically, but if you process a lot of email every day, I can't stress enough how much time a text replacement application like Texter for Windows, TextExpander for Macs, or Snippits for Linux can save you. For a very brief (and somewhat trivial) demonstration of how I use Texter with Gmail to automate personalized responses to email, check out the video below.

Honorable mentions

GmailThis Bookmarklet: This little bookmarklet makes it easy to email any web page with the click of a button. Beyond that, if the mood strikes you, you can learn the advanced usage techniques to customize what your composed email will look like.

Gmail Date Search: Viewing emails sent on a specific date in Gmail requires a somewhat convoluted bit of syntax. The Gmail Date Search Greasemonkey script adds a Search by Date button to Gmail that lets you quickly search for emails by date by entering dates in a simple MM/DD/YY format. I wrote this one, so if you notice any bugs/have any suggestions, let me know.

DragDropUpload: This handy Firefox extension lets you drag files into Gmail (or any other file upload field) so that you don't have to go through the messy process of searching through your file directory just to upload a file you're looking at on your desktop.

For more of a beginner's look at Gmail, check out my previous Gmail master feature. It covers more of the basics, like label creation (with an explanation, if you're confused), setting up filters, and Gmail search operators. For a look at the huge repository of Gmail-related tips we've posted, check out our Gmail tag.

Adam Pash is a senior editor for Lifehacker who - sadly - couldn't live without Gmail. His special feature Hack Attack appears every Tuesday on Lifehacker. Subscribe to the Hack Attack RSS feed to get new installments in your newsreader.